Broadcast video content may include graphical elements such as branding logos. Such logos may be inserted by the content provider or distributor and generally appear in a static location in the video frames of video programs. For example, a broadcaster may insert their company logo in the lower-right corner of the video frames to indicate that the program was received from their transmission facilities. The logo typically remains present for an extended period of time (e.g., over multiple video frames) without change in intensity, color, pattern, location, etc. These logos are generally of high value to the content provider or distributor. Other examples of graphical elements may include on-screen text, particularly scrolling “tickers” often located at the bottom of the picture.
Encoders & transcoders sometimes do not produce video output with high image quality in the region of the logos or other graphical elements. Improvements in quality require knowledge of the presence and location of the graphical elements in the video frames. For example, if the encoder knows where in the frames a graphical element is located, the encoder can be configured to allocate a greater percentage of bits from its overall frame bit budget to the region where the graphical element is located. Automated techniques to locate graphical elements within a video program can be implemented using media analysis, but these techniques can be computationally expensive, and computing resources on an encoder are generally limited.